As a Trust we always strive to provide the best possible care for our patients and we endeavour to improve the services we provide by listening to our colleagues, patients and their carers.
As mentioned last week, a key part to improving the care that we offer is that we do this in a way that reflects the direct experience of patients and carers. To help in this we’re setting up Speciality Patient Experience Groups for patients and carers to offer their valuable insight and perspective on our services.
This week I chaired a quarterly meeting of the Patient and Carer Experience (PaCE) Panel, which brings together SaTH colleagues and important stakeholders such as Healthwatch, to look at all the work we can do within the Trust and with our Speciality Patient Experience Groups to improve how we serve our communities.
It was exciting to hear at that meeting how passionate our colleagues within the Trust and patient representatives are about improving the whole experience for our patients and I am looking forward to seeing how the work we will be doing develops. Watch this space to find out more.
One of the ways to constantly drive up the standard of patient care is to look at training for our colleagues and how we can develop that still further. I was really pleased to meet the first cohort of Health Care Support Workers (HCSWs) at the end of their two-week classroom training at Telford College’s new Social and Health Care Partnership Training Academy.
These HCSWs are taking part in a six-month pilot programme and spend the first two weeks at Telford College. This programme will provide our HCSWs with the essential skills they need when they commence working within the Trust or with other partners.
The Academy is co-ordinated by the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System (ICS) and SaTH works together with other healthcare and social care partners to provide the training. This collaborative approach means all HCSWs will have the same training, regardless of whether they work in social care settings, the community or a hospital setting. If you would like more information visit www.stw-healthcare.co.uk.
As I told the 24 HCSWs at a presentation on Friday, they are our future and they have shown courage and determination to come into healthcare. They are joining us at a really exciting – but challenging – time when improvements are taking place and there are plenty of innovative ideas and also much need for additional skilled colleagues alongside us.
Finally, my colleagues have been hard at work trying to reduce waste and recycle as much as possible. Before Christmas, they were asked whether they could remove or recycle unnecessary items to make the Trust ‘clutter-free’. It was part of the national Warp-it programme which aims to prevent items going into landfill.
My colleagues at the Trust have excelled themselves and donated hundreds of old uniforms. The Library Team at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have kindly sorted through a mountain of donated uniforms and the total stands at 456.
A special thanks to all those that donated uniforms and for doing your bit to help the Trust and the environment by recycling.